Few Arizona students fill out FAFSA to get financial aid for college

Less than a third of high school seniors across Arizona take advantage of a federal application that could provide free money for college, even though the once-arduous process is getting easier.

College students have access to more than $150 billion in federal grants through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, but some of it goes untapped because students either don’t know it exists or have misconceptions about it, financial aid experts say.

Even when students don’t qualify for grants, completing the FAFSA can open other doors, including low-interest federal student loans. Also, scholarship organizations often require applicants to complete the application because it gives a comprehensive picture of a student’s financial background.

The application process can seem daunting to students and parents — even those who need the money — because filling out the lengthy application is an arduous process that requires sharing highly personal information such as Social Security numbers and parents’ tax documents.

“It scares people,” says Deena Lager, director of student financial aid and family college savings program for the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education. “They don’t understand why all that information is needed.”

But new tools, including a data retriever that links directly to the Internal Revenue Service, have made the process much easier, she says.

An Arizona Daily Star analysis shows that word is not getting out.

Highly regarded charter networks had high rates of completion — more than 85 percent of seniors at Basis Oro Valley and 90 percent at Sonoran Science Academy completed the application by the end of the 2015-2016 school year, data show.

University High School had the highest rate among district schools, with more than 74 percent.

But on average, only about a third of high school seniors in the Tucson area completed their applications. Rates were especially low among alternative schools. Seven schools, including Compass High School and Mountain Rose Academy, had completion rates in the single digits.

A SEEMINGLY INTIMIDATING PROCESS

On a recent Tuesday, Javier Romero, Ezequiel Mendoza, Marisela Garcia and Nitzeana Yourgulez — all seniors at Sunnyside High School — flip through sheets of papers as they listen to a counselor explain how to apply for FAFSA.

All of them want to go to college, but none will be able to do so without some help.

“It’s really hard to get by with four siblings,” says Mendoza, who wants to study aeronautical engineering either at the University of Arizona or Harvard University.

Only about one in three seniors at Sunnyside submitted the federal aid application by June of last year. Of those students, a handful finished the process. Counselor Belinda Stevens says too many kids think they won’t qualify or that college is not a possibility for them.

Even when teachers and counselors convince them to apply, the pile of information required and unfamiliar vocabulary serve as roadblocks, she says.

The counselor’s advice to students? “It doesn’t cost you anything but time.”

The four Sunnyside seniors are preparing to start their FAFSAs (the application process began Saturday), but they say they are already intimidated by the process. What seems most daunting is that they will need their parents’ tax information.

“I’m going to need my mom’s W-2,” says Yourgulez, who wants to study nursing. “I don’t even know what that is.”

It gets even trickier when family dynamics come into play — something that’s hard to explain on a federal application that asks mostly multiple-choice questions. Garcia, who already has been awarded a scholarship from Abilene Christian University in Texas but has to fill out the application first, says her parents divorced last year, and that’s going to make it difficult to get her father’s information.

“I don’t talk to him after the divorce,” she says. “I don’t know if he even filed his taxes.”

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The school provides multiple workshops throughout the year to help, such as the one these students attended, Stevens says. Sometimes the school’s counselors give advice. Other times, representatives from the University of Arizona or Pima Community College offer guidance.

Arizona is part of a federal initiative to boost completion rates. College Goal FAFSA, a campaign of the state’s post-secondary education commission, hosts community and school events where volunteers sit with students in computer labs and help them fill out the application.

A PERSISTING REPUTATION

There’s more trepidation about filling out the FAFSA than necessary, aid experts say. Improvements over the past few years have made the process easier.

One major change this year is earlier availability. Students can now apply starting Oct. 1, instead of Jan. 1. This change particularly affects students from low-income backgrounds, says Keith Frome, co-founder and CEO of College Summit, an organization working to increase college access for low-income and first-generation students.

Low-income students who were admitted to college early could not commit unless their financial aid was approved, he says. Earlier availability of FAFSA means possible earlier approval.

Another major change is that students can now use tax information from two years prior to receiving aid, meaning, to apply for aid to be used in the 2017-2018 school year, applicants would be required to provide 2015 tax information. Before the change, students often ran into situations where they or their parents hadn’t yet filed the prior year’s tax returns.

Other improvements include what’s called “skip logic,” says Rebekah Salcedo, the UA’s financial aid director. Depending on how students answer one question, they may not be required to answer some others, cutting out unnecessary time spent on questions that are not applicable to them.

“I think there’s still a lot of perception that the form is complicated and I think some of that perception is a little old,” she says. “What’s hard is getting past that stereotype that this is going to be long and complicated.”

Another turn in the tide in FAFSA was the electronic legal signatures, called “FSA IDs,” replacing the four-digit personal identification number in 2015. The identification numbers were used in combination with Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The new IDs are intended to provide more security and are easy to sign up for.

But one person’s upgrade can be another person’s challenge. Sarah Wilson, head counselor at Winslow High School, says the FSA IDs have made it more challenging for some of her students who are from rural areas.

Sixty percent of students at Winslow are Native American and live in dorms during the school year, she says. Their parents, who live on reservations, might not have regular access to email. That becomes a challenge when applicants forget their passwords, which must be recovered through email.

Despite challenges, Winslow has had great success through its outreach efforts and information nights where the school sets up computers and volunteers help families fill out the application. The school went from having just 10 to 15 people attend the FAFSA nights seven years ago to 93 attending this fall.

In the past year, 58 percent of Winslow’s seniors completed the FAFSA — well above the state average of about 31 percent.

“We’re not just going to put up a few posters around the school and call it good,” Wilson says. “We need to go out there and account for the fact that we have people who live a ways from our school.”

COMMUNICATION, CONTAGION

The FAFSA process has gotten easier and more accessible, says April Osborn, director of the state’s post-secondary education commission. But it’s difficult to explain to families who are inexperienced in financial matters, and that’s why schools and counselors must communicate to students and their families about what it is and how to use it.

Frome’s organization, College Summit, focuses on training high school students to influence their peers and help them through the FAFSA process. Whether it’s losing weight, quitting smoking or filling out the federal student aid application, a communal effort makes the process less daunting, Frome says. “When you do something difficult together, it becomes less difficult and you’re more likely to follow through with it.”

Students must be prepared to ask for help, he adds. “There’s no shame in asking for help.”

No matter how much help is out there, it means nothing if students don’t take advantage of it.

“It’s important that students and families understand that FAFSA is there because the taxpayers and the citizens of our state and our nation want to support young people in their college and career goals,” Osborn says. “The students’ part is to bolster themselves and get those applications finished.”